Andrew f



A. F. BLUNK.

,STRAW CUTTER.

Patented'Sept. 13, 1859.

Witnaysas': /iya, ww zd UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREIV F. BLUNK, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

STRAW-CUTTER.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 25,378, dated September 13, 1859.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW F. BLUNK. of Indianapolis, county of Marion, and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Straw-Cutters; and I hereby declare the following to be a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, like letters referring to like parts.

Figure 1, is a side elevation; and Fig. 2 is a section of the machine.

A, is the frame supporting the box proper, and the efiective machinery.

E, is the knife wheel performing also the function of a balance wheel in equalizing the power put forth by the operator.

K, K, are elbow shaped arms of the knife wheel; and each arm carries T, T, the knives, which cut the straw, the whole of these attached to the shaft F, upon which is the wheel G, gearing with pinion H, which is upon the shaft of the roller 0, operating the endless belt I, which passes around the rollers C, and D.

Upon the rollers D, B, are attached the pulleys J, J, represented by the dotted lines, which give motion to the roller B, by the pulley cord N. The roller B, is designed to force the straw between the rollers C, B.

Upon the inside of the box M, are the slides S, S,to the bottom of which are attached the spiral springs O, O. In these slides are the journals of the roller B,by which arrangement the pressure of the roller B, is equalized upon the straw as it passes toward the knives.

P, P, are adjustable, and, gaged slides supporting the roller D,and by means of which the tension of the endless belt I, I, can

be regulated to suit any emergencyby set screws Q, Q

The operation of the machine is simply as follows, viz: Place the straw upon the endless belt I, I,when, by turning the wheel E, which carries the knives upon its arms, (four or more,) the endless belt is set in motion, and carries the straw up to the knives, between the rollers; and, the straw being thus compressed by passing between the rollers, is cut with a very slight expenditure of power in the operator, these knives having an elbow shape on their backs, and an angular concavity at their edge, and so adjusted that when they sweep past the face of the box they cut with a drawing motion in close imitation of the motion in the common hand cutting box, having but a single knife. L, is the point at which the cutting is done. This elbow shaped knife has advantages over all other knives, placed in a rotary wheel, and accomplishes something not done by any other similar machine-a complete drawing out.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,

A straw cutter constructed as herein shown and specified :that is to saywith angular knives T ;arms K ;wheel E;feed rollers B, C, andD;slides P, S ;-springs O; band N;pulleys J, J ;and endless belt I,when these several parts are constructed and arranged for operation conjointly, as, and for the purposes described.

R. S. GEE,

G. H. HARRINGTON. 

